Lungfish: “Screams Of Joy”

Back in the late nineties during a creative high peak, post-hardcore legends Lungfish wrote an album’s worth of material that largely went unreleased. After recording 11 new songs at Baltimore’s ACR studio under the production of Craig Bowen, rather than releasing a full length the band went right on writing songs. About half the tunes were shelved and several others were eventually re-recorded as 2000’s Necrophones. Now a dozen or so odd years on, the band’s long-term label Dischord is finally getting ready to release the ACR session, which will see the light of day on May 14th. And today you can hear a sample of what they sound like: “Screams of Joy” is the first song to be available for listening. While I am no Lungfish expert, to me the ACR production sounds a little more gauzy and almost drone-y than the sound on Necrophones. It’s a great track though, and of course, not a huge departure from the band’s aesthetic which has remained largely constant throughout their twenty-some year existence. Daniels Higgs’ growl-from-beyond and the densely obtuse lyricism are both the same as they ever were.